Recent advances in media conversion technology, such as speech-to-text conversion and optical character recognition (OCR), have made it possible for computers to perform tasks such as transcribing messages or documents dictated by a user. Dictation systems for personal computers are now fairly common. Also available are scanning or OCR systems that are capable of converting the content of a printed document into computer readable form. These systems, however, are sometimes inaccurate. The users often need to proof-read and make corrections to the output of these systems.
Also emerging as a new technology is the unified messaging system. The Unified Messenger™, manufactured by Octel Communications Corporation of Milpitas, Calif., is one such system. These unified messaging systems integrate a user's fax messages, voice messages and e-mails in a single logical mailbox such that they can be accessed by telephone or computer. For instance, the Unified Messenger can convert an e-mail message into a voice message so that it can be read to the user over the telephone. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,659, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Data entry personnel are currently utilized for the conversion of an audio message to a text message sent to a user's paging device. In such a system, a caller desiring to send a message, telephones the user's paging service and communicates the message to a data entry employee of the paging service. This employee enters the message into a computer and then transmits it to the user's paging device. The text message entered by the employee of the paging service is then displayed on the display of the user's paging device. The use of human employees in the text entry and transcription of audio messages is expensive and inefficient. Current automated systems are not reliable and accurate enough to be used for a fully automated messaging or transcription system. Accordingly, what is needed is an automated system which also employs human reviewers to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the reviewers.
When documents are dictated and recorded as an audio file, a person transcribing the document plays the audio file and enters text representing the document recorded on the audio tape. The use of human employees in text entry and transcription of audio messages is expensive and inefficient. Automated speech-to-text conversion systems are also currently available to convert audio recordings into a text document. However, such conversion systems are inaccurate, requiring the users to proof-read and make corrections to the output of the systems.